Are Near Death Experiences : Proof There Is Life After Death?

Near Death Experiences

This is an age-old question, that has haunted people’s minds like a ghost, since the beginning of time.

Recently, increasing reports of people purporting to have had near death experiences, has brought the issue of survival after death, to forefront of the people’s minds, like never before.

Dr Parnia's Research

Some medical researchers have started paying attention, getting involved and studying those who have had these experiences, to see if there is a scientific answer to that question.

In 2001, Dr Sam Parnia, Senior Research Fellow, at the University of Southampton, UK and his team reported that they thought they may have found evidence that would support a positive answer to the question is there life after death.They published a paper on the results of a study they conducted on near death experiences, that that lead them to believe, that after the brain and body are no longer functional, consciousness and memory may still continue to function.

The Study

For one year they studied sixty-three patients who had been resuscitated after having a heart attack, and who were all clinically dead, for various length of time. They had no pulse or respiration and their pupils, were fixed and dilated. This was confirmed by independent EEG studies

Eleven percent of the patients, experienced emotions and visions while they were clinically dead. Six percent, recalled “feelings of peace and joy, time speeding up, heightened senses, lost awareness of body, seeing a bright light, entering another world, encountering a mystical being, or deceased relative, and coming to a point of no return”.

So this is the question: If they were unconscious with no brain function and clinical dead. How could they have experienced the thoughts, feeling and visions they say they did?

The Explanations

Explanation 1: Skeptics say the experiences were hallucinations, caused by disturbed brain chemistry, a lack of oxygen or changes in carbon dioxide levels. But, Dr Parnia’s team, found that none of the patients had low levels of oxygen or any of the things that the skeptics brought forth, to explain the patients experiences.

Explanation 2 Skeptics say that the out of body experiences, vivid encounters with tunnels, lights or deceased relatives, are constructed by the mind to ease the process of death. But Dr Parnia, explained that, "The features of the NDEs in this study were dissimilar to those of confusional hallucinations, as they were highly structured, narrative, easily recalled and clear."

Explanation 3: Believers and near death experiencers, think the experiences are exactly what they seem, transcendental experiences, showing the continuation of life after death.

The near death experiencers were all Christians, but none of them reported seeing Jesus, God or other religious figures, during their experiences. (Interesting don’t cha think?)

Dr Parnia Summation

Dr Parnia summed all this up saying:"During cardiac arrest brain stem activity is rapidly lost. It should not be able to sustain such lucid processes or allow the formation of lasting memories. We need a large, definitive study to tell us whether the mind is produced by the brain or whether it is a separate entity. If it is the latter this will have almost unimaginable implications."

The Big Question

So the question to you is:

Do near death experiences or this study make you feel more certain that there is life after death? If yes, why? If not, why not?

What’s your explanation of what these patients and many others are experiencing, when they have near death experiences?

Answer This Question

Do You Believe that Life After Death Has Been Proven By Near Death Experiences?

Comments 7 comments

There is life after death. All it takes is for you to be present when someone is dying...

vveasey 4 years ago from Detroit,MI Author

Sunganani

thanks for you viewpoint

can you go in to more detail?

Jak 4 years ago

vveasy, I'm pretty sure that was a joke on Sunganani's part

vveasey 4 years ago from Detroit,MI Author

Ha ha ha ha!

vveasey 4 years ago from Detroit,MI Author

Jak

If Sunganani was joking...well of course there is life ater death, (those who are still alive after someone dies), just as there is life before death (Those who are alive before someone dies).

But on the other hand..

Some people say that when the life energy that powers and animates the body leaves the body,

The body dies but the life energy that leaves the body, is still alive without the body.

Paul Witton 4 years ago

I don`t know, but I would like to believe there is life after death. There must be some purpose to life - When we die we do not dissapear, we change chemical form. However, I have an open mind and would like to read other peoples comments and thoughts on the issue.